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The Mummy Strikes
The Mummy Strikes is the fourteenth animated short film based on the DC comics character, Superman. It was released to theaters on February 19, 1943. Plot At the Metropolis Egyptian Museum, a local Egyptologist, Dr. Jordan, is found dead. His assistant, Ms. Jane Hogan finds his dead body in front of the sarcophagus of the newest mummy on display, King Tush. She finds a syringe near the doctor's body. With no other evidence to go on, the police assume that Ms. Hogan is the killer, she admits her fingerprints are on the syringe, and she is convicted for murder. A few days later, Clark Kent gets a call from a professor at the museum, asking him to come to the museum and listen to another theory on the death of Dr. Jordan. Clark sneaks out, claiming it is his Doctor, but out of curiosity, Lois follows. At the museum, the professor explains that Dr. Jordan was killed by a mummy's curse. He takes Clark through a reconstruction of some Egyptian catacombs at the museum and tells him the story of King Tush. (King Tush's story is similar to the story of King Tut.) Lois follows them, making sure not to be seen. Before his death, the 12-year-old Tush's father, the old pharaoh who ruled the Upper Nile and warred against the Lower Nile, commanded his giant, superhuman guards to swear an oath to protect his son throughout eternity. After his death, Tush became the pharaoh. Shortly after that, King Tush got sick, being young and sickly, and eventually died. Keeping their promise to the old pharaoh, the guards committed suicide with poison, in order to protect King Tush in the afterlife. And so, a curse was placed on the sarcophagus of the young pharaoh which read: "He who disturbs the eternal sleep of King Tush shall perish." As they approach King Tush's sarcophagus, the professor explains that Dr. Jordan reconstructed the burial vault of the boy king exactly as he saw it in one of the pyramids, and worked on recreating an ancient formula that was said to bring the dead to life, called the Fluid of Life, in absolute secrecy. And just before he was found dead, Dr. Jordan inoculated each of the mummies of Tush's guards with the Fluid of Life, but the test failed and the mummies remained lifeless. And once they reach the feet of Tush's sarcophagus, the professor explains that Dr. Jordan invoked the curse upon himself by trying to open the king's sarcophagus. Clark pushes a button on the side of the sarcophagus and finds a poisoned needle that shoots out at him, yet he is unaffected due to his Kryptonian invulnerability, unknown to the professor. This new evidence seems enough to clear Ms. Hogan of the murder charge. Sensing that the needle missed, the sarcophagus opens and a light from the dead king's jeweled amulet awakens his giant guards (their coffins are scattered around the room). The 4 giant guards attack Clark, Lois and the professor. Clark is thrown into a sarcophagus, where he quickly changes into Superman and busts out. As Superman, he defeats the giant guards and saves Lois and the professor from a grim demise by fire. Back at the Daily Planet, Clark smiles as he finishes his report on Ms. Hogan being released from jail. Lois is sitting on the desk. She was injured in the mummy attack and her hands had to be bandaged up (therefore, she wasn't able to write the story herself). She grumbles as Clark finishes his story. When Clark asks how she knew to be there, she replies, "My mummy done told me." Trivia * Much like King Tush, King Tutankhamen was a pharaoh at a young age. And he too died young. * Much like the other shorts in the series, this Superman short film is in the public domain. Category:Movies Category:Mummies